“The Michael Powell Jury, having considered the eleven films in competition for the Best New British Feature, is pleased to announce two unanimous decisions. A Special Mention to Edward and Rory McHenry for their animated revision of modern British history, Jackboots on Whitehall, and the Michael Powell Award goes to writer/director Nick Whitfield whose debut feature Skeletons best exemplifies the spirit of Michael Powell in its original vision and dark humour.”

The PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film was picked up by David Thewlis for his compelling performance in Mr Nice.

The Jury citation stated:

“The Michael Powell Jury is pleased to announce it has unanimously decided to present the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film to David Thewlis for his energetic and electrifying performance as Jim McCann in Bernard Rose’s feature Mr Nice.”

David Thewlis was delighted to scoop the Award.

“This is a thrill and totally unexpected, and made all the more special by being honoured by one of my favourite cities. Thank you.”

Lizzie Franke, Senior Production Executive with the UK Film Council, sponsor of the Michael Powell and Best British Short Film awards added:

"The UK Film Council’s support for Edinburgh's film festival and the Michael Powell award underlines our commitment to promote and nurture new British film talent. Nick Whitfield's Skeletons is an imaginative and touching debut film and winning the Michael Powell award confirms he is a talent to look out for. And in looking at new talent coming through short filmmaking, Daniel Mulloy's Baby proves he is a writer/director with enormous promise."

The Projector.tv Best International Feature Award was deliberated by a three-strong jury of comedian/director Ben Miller, actor Jason Isaacs and producer Lynda Myles. They decided on family drama The Dry Land, directed Ryan Piers Williams.

The Standard Life Audience Award went to Get Low, which stars Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.

The UK Film Council Award for Best British Short Film went to Daniel Mulloy for Baby.

The Moët New Directors Award went to Gareth Edwards for his promising science fiction film, Monsters.

The Best Feature Documentary Award went to Laura Poitras for her insight into al Qaeda in The Oath. A special mention also went to Restrepo.

The Best International Short Film Award sponsored by Steedman & Company went to directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza for Rita.

The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation, in partnership with the BBC Film Network, went to Victoria Mather, director of Stanley Pickle.

Director Anne Milne picked up both the Scottish Short Documentary Award, supported by Baillie Gifford, and the Edinburgh Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2010 with Maria’s Way.

EIFF Artistic Director, Hannah McGill commented:

“We have had a tremendous festival experience this year, and it's a particular pleasure to close with the world premiere of a film as beautiful, idiosyncratic and moving as Third Star. I warmly congratulate all of our award-winners, as well as the generous supporters of those awards; and I thank the wonderful people on our juries for their enthusiasm and dedication.”

Don't forget to check out the Best of the Fest list, so you can catch up on many of these films on our second-chance Sunday.

Comments

Kay McGregorTuesday 29th June, 2010 / 13:06 GMT

The audience award was a bit of a joke, given that both the films I saw were up for it, at one the ushers were shaking their rubbish bags and let us put (the wrong part of!) our stubs in there, only for us to see the actual voting buckets outside the cinema. The 2nd film there was nobody collecting them at all. If you're going to have this award at least train the cinemas to run them fairly.

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